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NBA Eastern Conference Stretch Run Thoughts: Cavs hobbled, Wizards primed, Pacers don't matter

Once the NCAA Tournament Sweet Sixteen gets whittled down to the Elite Eight, I start feeling a little melancholy, because all of my television basketball community has gone home for the spring.  I bounce back quickly though since the NBA playoffs are soon to begin.  The first two rounds of the NBA playoffs satisfy my insatiable desire for highly competitive sports action.

The Western Conference has been the top conference for years now and there are some compelling matchups pending for the later rounds with San Antonio, Golden State and Houston jockeying toward the top of the conference.

If this NBA commercial doesn’t at least spark your interest, you are not a true hoop head.

However, my Hoosier on the Potomac eyes are firmly fixed on the action in the Eastern Conference.  LeBron James has played in the last 6 Eastern Conference finals and eight out of the last ten.  His Cleveland or Miami teams advanced to the NBA Finals in all of the last six.  This year we may see that streak snapped.

Sam Amick of the USAToday spelled out the Cleveland's troubles in his March 27 article following the Spurs abuse of Cleveland:

“This was uglier than most, a 103-74 loss to the San Antonio Spurs that was over by halftime and may have qualified as the worst possible NBA Finals preview in the modern era.”

Emmett Knowlton of the Business Insider said it was “a game so lopsided the entire fourth quarter essentially became garbage time.”

King LBJ punctuated the loss with an all-time greatest drama king display from a man adept at such exhibitions.

Cleveland bolted from the gates this year to a 28-8 record, but are only 19-18 since.  During that span, they have the 29^th best defensive rating.  Even worse, they are 8-10 since the All-Star break.  They are dealing with the regular bumps and bruises from a long season, hints of dead legs and a disgruntled star player/wanna-be GM.

While my hometown Pacers do not look to be able to take advantage of the weakened behemoth, the local Washington Wizards just might be able to clear the Eastern Conference scrum and see themselves playing in June.

I overheard a dude at work today saying “we took the banner last night.”  I had no idea what he was talking about until I checked the Washington Post online.  With their comeback 119-108 victory over the lowly Los Angeles Lakers, the Wizards secured their first division title in 38 years with a chance to still pick off the Cavaliers and the second overall seed.

Quick note: That 1979 division champion Washington Bullets club would advance to their second straight NBA Finals, which they eventually lost in 5 games to the Seattle Supersonics in a rematch of the previous finals. 

Guiseppe Kennedy of Bullets Forever blog started laying out the argument for the Wizards potentially besting Cleveland way back on Feb. 10 following a heartbreaking last-second Washington loss to the defending champions.  He noted that the Wizards starting five stacks up well against anybody, including the Cavaliers, who trot Ian Shumpert out as their “lock down” defender – so good that Beal torched him for 41 points.

Kennedy further highlighted the Washington bench as being an Achilles heel, which they were…at that time.  Since then, the Wizards bench has added key players, achieved a modicum of health and developed into a potential positive.  Sharp shooter Bojan Bogdanovic was brought in, athletic big Ian Mahimi is now healthy and previously pedestrian players like Kelly Oubre, Jason Smith and Tomas Satoransky have started to contribute in meaningful ways.

Cleveland is a struggling champion and the Wizards, along with the Celtics and Raptors are going to make it very hard for King James to continue his streak of six straight NBA Finals appearances.

At a minimum, the longer the Wizards (and Caps) go in the playoffs the less we will have to hear about the Kirk Cousin contract kerfuffle and Redskins misguided management mechanizations on DMV sports radio. 

Hometown Angle: Will the Indiana Pacers be able to make some noise?

Short answer: No.

The Pacers do not have a starting five that matches up with  any of the top four in the East.  They will need contributions from the bench.  As discussed by Ben Gibson of Pacers blog 8 Points, 9 Seconds, Al Jefferson, Glenn Robinson III and Rodney Stuckey have all needed medical attention recently.

Regardless of where points and rebounds will come from, the Pacers have been a maddeningly inconsistent team this year.  Working backward chronologically, they lost last night at home to the Minnesota Timberwolves, beat the Philadelphis 76’ers on Sunday, lost to the Denver Nuggets (at home AGAIN) on Friday, lost to the Boston Celtics on Wednesday and beat the Utah Jazz on Monday.  A 2-3 stretch with losses to good and mediocre teams is not the resume of team that can sneak out a playoff series victory or two.

Some of the most intelligent and hilarious Pacers news I get are from my high school buddies still in the state.  What did they think of the Pacers most recent performance versus Minnesota?

Indy Financial Management Bro: "Pacers are going to limp into the playoffs a 5, 6, or 7 and likely sub-500. How can we not beat MN at home?"

Indy Banker Dude: "They should have won, but they got super f#cked by the officials in the last 20 seconds. A non call when Teague was in the lane and then Rubio gets fouled by his own guy and makes 3 FTs."

I am out of market from my beloved Pacers so these reports are very insightful and appreciated.

Jacob Breece, also of 8 Points, 9 Seconds, thinks the Pacers could make something happen if they shorten their rotation down to 8-9 players focusing minutes on Monta Ellis, Lavoy Allen and big Al Jefferson.  I don’t see it.  I felt better about the Pacers going into the playoffs last year hoping they could just bet past the Raptors in the first round and get on roll (that didn’t happen, either).

The Pacers made moves in the off-season that I liked (bringing in Jeff Teague) and wondered about (signing Al Jefferson, which I questioned at the time).  Those moves, along with the coaching change from Frank Vogel to Nate MacMillan, are not panning out.  I would like to see Paul George remain a Pacer and lead Indy to the Promised Land, but it is looking more and more like Larry Bird must seriously consider dealing the one true star of the team in and around the draft.